Plating device.



EQA. HIRNER.

PLATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEBJQ, 1907.

Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

3 SHE'ETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTORZ EM/L l7. f/lfi/Vf h J 1 9 fl .3 4.. I E F F F u q K E. A.HIRNER.

PLATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.15, 1907.

Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

' face of the fabric,

UNITE rarer.

ElVIIL A. I-IIRNER, OF ALLENTOIWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

PLATING DEVICE.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that 1,,E3IIL A. HIRNER, of Allentown, in the county ofLehigh and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Plating Devices, whereof the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to devices employed in circular knitting machinesto perform the operation of plating, by which two yarns aresimultaneously knitin the form of aweb .in such relation. to each otherthat one yarn (called the plating yarn) is visible upon the and theother yarn (called the body yarn) is visible upon the ba-ckcf thefabric.

In ordinary latch needle machines the proper performance of theoperation of plating is effected by so feeding the two yarns to theneedles that one lies above the other on the. hook of the needlegandmaintaining this relation until the loop is cast off the needle. Various devices have been designed for the purpose of thus accuratelyfeeding two yarns simultaneously to the needles in proper relation toeach other, but great difficulty has been experienced in employing thesedevices in reciprocatory knitting on circular machines, for where theyafns return upon themselves at the end of eachreciprocation, thealternationjof the tensions and positions of the yarns consequent uponthe reversal of the motion has the efiect of disturbing the relation ofthe threads so as to often occasion a reversal of the threads during theplating operation, thus damaging the work.

My invention relates to means-which may be applied to the ordinarycircular stocking knitter. By means of my invention, when the machine isreciprooated the yarnsare at 'with the maintenance all times accuratelymaintained and fed to the needles in their proper position for plating,notwithstanding variation in the number of needles in th fashioning set.

By the machine which I have described it is possible to knit a seamlessstocking having heel and toe pockets fashioned by reciproc'atoryknitting with employment of the same body and plating yarn used duringthe knitting of the other parts of the stocking and of one yarn visibleupon the face and the other yarn visible upon the back of the fabric asuniformly during the parts of the work which are knit Specification ofLetters Patent.

Application filed February 15, 1907.

superimposed upon Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

Serial No. 357,462.

by reciprocation of the machine as in those during which the machine isrotated.

For the accurate performance of the plating operation, I have found thatit is desirable that the plating yarn which is to lie within the hook ofthe needle below the body yarn, should be fed to the needle from an eyewell' in advance of the yarn guide through which the body yarn is beingfed to the. needle. In this way the angle at which the yarnsrespectively pass to the needles varies, the obliquity of the ,platingyarn being greater than that of the body yarn. To accomplish this, Iemploy a separate guide for each yarn, the guide for the body yarn beingstationary, andpreferably somewhat elongated, and the guide for theplating yarn being ayarn eye capable of receiving a reversedreciprocatory motion coincident with the change of motion of theknitting cylin; der, so that while the knitting cylinder is mtating inone direction, the yarn eye which carries the plating yarn is in advanceof the yarn guide for the body yarn, but, immediately the motion of theknitting cylinder is reversed, the eye for the plating. yarn 'is thrownto the other side of the guide for the body yarn, so that during bothdirections in which the cylinder moves, the plating yarn eye is alwaysin advance of the body yarn guide.

I will now describe my invention as applied to a stocking knitter,showing only such parts as are necessary for the roper comprehension ofmy invention, and with the understanding that 'the invention is notlimited to any particular kind of knitting machine. i

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I, is an elevation of a rotatinglatch guard with its yarn guide and supports and other adjunctive parts,such as may be conveniently the knitting cylinders of any ordinarycircular knitting machine. Fig..II, is an elevation of the same as seenat right anglesfrom'Fig. I; the upper part of the yarn post beingremoved, and a portion of the latch guard being broken away and shown insection. Fig. III, is a plan view of the same with the .yarn postsremoved. Fig. IV, is a detailview of the slide-piece 66. Fig. V, is adetail view showing in plan sect-ion, the relation of the thread feedsto the needles. This section is indicated by the arrows V, V, in Fig.VI. Fig.

I VI, is a fragmentar development of the parts shown in Fig. duringrotary-knitting. -Fig. VII, is a fragmentary sectional view indicated bythe arrows VII, VII, in

Fig. VI. Fig. VIII, showsthe relative positions of the body and platingyarns at the completion of'the first course of reciprocatory'lmitting'.Fig. IX, is a sim lar view showing'these relations at the beg nning ofthe second reciprocatory course.

In'the figures, 1, is an annular seat which is supported above theknitting cylinders. 1 -With1n; this seat an annular plate 2, 1s re-iceivedand' supported, rotating freely there in. The inner edgeofthis-annular plate is:

. prolonged downwardly as a flange to form the latch guard '3, which asusual in such machinesi-smaintained in constant relation 'g'uiding'eyesas common in the art.

- ecti'ng from theyoke 5, isthe plate 15, containing two yarn eyes16,.located, over the f a nnular disk- 2, in nearly vert1cal relationto" the j corresponding yarn eyes 17-, and 18,

1 to'the cam cylinder of the knitting machine.- 20 which' support'a'. yoe 5, the projecting extremities of which carry the bobbins 7, an 8.Mounted centrally upon the'yoke 5, 1s a Mounted upon the late 2, areposts 4, .4,

arm post 9, provided with successive colars 10, 11,12, and 13, allpierced by .arn

which are set in an arm 19, adjustably sup -'oi' t'e in an n right post-35, mounted on idllle. ate 2.. T e post further supports the horizontalpins 37, and 38, the latter of iWhlCh carries the swingi through theends of which "eyes 40,- are pierced. On the other side of the annularplate 2, is 'set a post'31, carrying the long,

yarn locks 39,

spring tension arms 30, with eyes 32, atthefir extremities which whenpulled down are in arts thus shown and between-the yarn-eyes 16, and theyarn .eyes' iivice is shown and described in etters 1 at I ent of. theUnited States No. 911,656, issued to me under date of February 9th,1909, but H -'-asthis'formsnoessential part of my pres-- fentinventiom-and as other devices may be employed, I .have not shown ordescribed.

the samem this application.

' Beneath the yarn guidin members thus f ardes crihedflhe annular p ate2, has a'slot';

- of: indefinite-size cut'within it and over fthis lies attached tothe'plate-a small-sup- ;f. plemental; [plate 46, the exact position ofwhich'in relation to'the plate 2, is capable of adjustment by the screw47, The late 46, has two arn idinig eyes 48, an 49, the former o whic isnearer the axis of the machine than the latter. '1'

The latch guard 3, in the region wherethe yarn is fed to the needles isprovided other'and set within a sad le tached to one end of the yoke 5.

with two apertures, the uppermost an elon gated horizontal slot 50, andthe lowermost a yarn guide 51. The two are separated by a suitableinterval, and the lower edge 52, of the latch guard is projectedslightly downward to surround the yarn uide 51, as shown .in Figs. V,and VII, or reasons which will be explained later. Immediately behindthe slotted" opening 50, is an oscillating yarn finger 54, which playswith-- in a circumferential slot 55, and whose lower end is curved, soas to project its terminal yarn eye 53, forward into the said opening asbest seen in Fig. VII. This finger is adjustably attached to one arm 56,of a bell.

crank lever 57, which is pivoted to the bridge 58, and which unites theposts 4. The other arm 59, of this bell crank lever forms a yoke whichgrasps the rounded extremity of an arm 60, formed upon the collar 61,which surrounds one of the posts 4. Upon' theside opposite to this armthe collar 61,1'carries a vertical pin 62, the lower end o f 'whichreaches. down through a slot 63, in the annular plate 2, and is at itslower end turned outwardly so as to be received between two lugs 65, 65,on the lower side of a slide piece 66, which runs with slight frictionin a circular groove cut in the lower side of the seat 1; The inneropposing edges of these lugs 65,-.are beveled 1n relation to eachotheras shownin Fig. IV. The col"- Zla'r 61, is also rovided with anupwardly extending arm 0, upon the side opposite to the arm 60. Thecollar is free to rotate upon the post 4,. but this rotation is limitedin each directionby theaoontact of the, arm j 70, with the screws 72, oposed to each piece-73, at- The bobbin 7, carries the plating yarn whichpasses from'the bobbin up to an eye.

in the' collar 13,'thence down through eyesin. the collars 12, 11, and10, to the' eye 16, from thence it passesto the eye 1?, through lathe ee in the yarn look, through the'eye 32, of t e spring tension, andthence down through the eye- 18, tothe eye '53, in the ex- 'tremity ofthe oscillating yarn finger 54,

from whence it isfed to the needles. The

bobbin 8, carries the body yarn, which pursues, a. similar coursethrough the eyes in the I collars '13,-12,"1 1,' and 10, the plate 15,and

afterpassirilgr through the eye l8, land the eyes. in thqjgyaf'n lockand spring'tension passes to theeye49, and from thence is led tothe eye51, .which constitutes the yarn "gulde for. the body yarn by which it isfed to the needles, 7

When the knitting machine is rotating for the production of tubularknitting the parts remain. in'jthe relation in which they are showninFigs. I, to VI, of the drawings,

the yarn finger 54, being situated at the leading extremity of the slot50, and feeding the plating yarn to the needle from an eye which leadsthe yarn guide 51; but upon the commencement of reciprocation a reversalof these parts takes place, for when the annular plate 2, starts itsreversalthe collar 61, rocksas far as it is permitted to do so, by themovement of the pin 62, between the lugs 65, the extent of its mot-ionbeing limited as described. This motion of the arm occasions acorresponding throw of the arm 60, which is communicated to the bellcrank lever 57, and therefore to the depending yarn finger whichcarriesthe platlng yarn, thus occasioning the immediate throwing of thefinger to the other end of the slot 50, so thatimmediately upon eachreversal of the reciprocating plate 2, this finger'is thrown to theleading or advancing end of the slot. Furthermore, the play of thefinger across the slot 50, is sufliciently great to carry the yarn eyeat each extremyarn guide reaches the end needle of the fashioning set ofneedles, where the-yarn ends the web, the body yarn is drawn to'thefollowing end of the yarn guide, thus a separation between the yarns iseffected, just at the most critical time, for it is along I the sutureformed upon the alines of the fashioning needles that reversal of theyarns often accidentally takesplace. .By observing the position of theyarns in the ures, and especially in Figs. .V, VI, and I,'it will beobserved that during thief-critical movementthe yarns aremaintainedgwell separated, so that no' contact between them occurs, nordo they approach near enough for the projecting fuzz of the one tobecome entangled in the fuzz of the other, a cause which, frequentlyoccasions reversal of the yarns.

It should be borne in mind that inmechanism of this type, the needleactuating I cams occupy approximately one-half of the inner peripheryof. the cam cylinder, and

therefore to permit reversing diiringreciprocatory knitting, thisportion of the cam cylinder must first bejrotated until all of its camshave'cleared the fashioning set. of needles. This, as is well known inthe art, requires a complete revolution of the machine, for eachreciprocatory course, no matter how small a number the fashioning setmay be reduced to. It will be seen that the throwing of theyarn eye 53,to the other yarn, so that 'it is extremity of its oscillatory motion,occurs before actual-feeding of the yarn from its eye to theneedles'takes place. In Figs. VIII, and IX, the first needle of theseries which is idle during reciprocatory knitting, is designated byt-he numeral 80, and the first active or fashioning needle by 81. Theshaded thread 82, represents the body yarn, and 83, the plating yarn.After the'completion of the first reciprocatory course,

'(Fig. VIII), continued rotation of the machine causes the threads towrap themselves against the shanks of the needles of the idle series,until the full rotation of the machine 'is completed. As soon asrotation in the reverse direction takes place, the relative position ofthe thread feeds are changed, the

arms 30, maintaining the yarns taut at all times. Continued rotation ofthe machine causes the threads to be twisted about the first needle ofthe fashioning set, as shown in Fig. IX, without the slightestalternation of the relative position of the threads, that is with thebody yarn always above the plating yarn, so that the plating yarnappears upon the face of the fabric during the selvage or suture, aswell as during all other.

parts of the knitting operation.

Having thus claims 1. In a circular knitting machine, the ele ments ofwhich-have capacity for both. ro-

describ (1 my invent ioI 1',"-"I- tary and reciprocatory. knitting,'- ayarn guide by-which. a body yarn is fed continuously to' the needles anoscillating yarn eye, the yarn feeding portion of which is so relate inposition to the first mentioned yarn guide that at either extremity ofits oscillation it. feeds'a platin yarn to the needles insuch relationto t e body yarn that said lating yarn lies on the shank of each need eimmediately below the body l yarn; and means for so oscillating saidyarn eye,-inrelation to the bodyyarn guide dur ingreciprocatoryfknitting as to cause'said yarn eye to always lead the yarnguide sufficiently to' compel the yarns to travel the needles atdistinct angles.

2.'In a circular stocking knitter, a yarn guide by which a body yarn isfed coptim uously to the'needles; a yarn eye oscillat-ingin a horizontallane above that of the yarn guide; means. or feeding a plating yarnthrough the oscillating gem eye to the needles; and means where ytheoscillation of said yarn'eye isso timed durin reci rocatory-knitting asto always fee needles/from a oint sufliciently in advance of the yarngui e to throw the plating yarn 1125 onto the shank of the needle belowthe body knit into the face of the fabric. I

tote

3. In a'circularstooking knitter, a yarn guide for a body yarn; anoscillating finger; a second yarn eye for the plating yarn carried by'said voscillating finger; means for causing said vfinger to oscillateabove the yarn guide an equal distance from one side i of'it, totheother, under control of vthe reciprocationof the needle cylinder,whereby at each'change of reciprocatlon said oscillat ing finger isthrown to the advance extremities of its range of motion.

In astocking knitter, means for simul-' taneousllyinfeeding two yarns tothe needles forthe itting of plated fabric, in combi I nation withguiding. means for feeding said' yarns tothe ne'ed1es,'said guidingmeansfor the plating yarn comprising a horizontally oscillating finger, andthe guiding means 7 for the body yarn consisting of an eye situatedbelow the plane in Which the finger oscillatesand centrally between theextremi-

